Boy was I wrong.
These two guys danced around the subject the same way that most people do when they ponder the issue with the same conclusion that PPV broadcasts are good supplements but will never replace the feeling of actually being there and will hopefully benefit the sport as a whole in the long run.
First of all I found it comical that they were under the impression that, other than Eldora, the tracks are not getting any revenue from having their events broadcast live on Pay-Per-View. If you are a promoter who is allowing somebody else to make a profit off of your event without getting a cut then you, my friend, are not very good at business.
Does a race fan who is within driving distance of an event choose to instead watch that same event on PPV instead of buying a ticket? You are fooling yourself if you don't think that is happening. Think of the guy who has a family of four that will cost him $100 for tickets plus concessions and travel. You don't think that he chooses the $49.95 PPV option instead, especially if the weather is iffy? If you don't think that is happening then you must have also thought that all of the young, healthy people would have signed up for Obamacare at $2,400 a year in premiums instead of just paying the $750 tax penalty.
I don't blame PPV providers, some of them are good friends of mine. They saw an opportunity to provide a service that many want and most are doing a damn fine job of it. Nothing I write here is intended to disparage them and in fact because some are my friends I wish them nothing but continued success.
Look at me instead as the cranky old man who started waggling his finger three or four years ago and someday you will say "you know what, that old sum bitch was right when he said that this would lead to the end of grass roots racing."
Ninety-nine out of a hundred people that you talk to will tell you that Pay Per View is the greatest thing that ever happened to short track racing and that the sport will grow because of it. Of course those people who want to talk about the subject are either owners of, or users of Pay Per View services.
The one thing that nobody ever seems to understand though is the residual effect of a PPV event. It really doesn't have much to do with the event that is being watched on someone's Smart TV or computer. It is all about that race track that is close by to the viewer that is no longer getting that fan's ticket and concession money.
I wrote this in the Back Stretch on June 12, 2017, and rather than linking you to it I will copy and paste it below in italics.
I have previously stated my stance on Pay Per View events and I continue to feel that they are, overall, damaging to the sport. This is not a popular stance, especially for those who enjoy being able to stay at home and watch a race live online whether that event is close by or far away and the primary argument from the other side is that those who are dialing in a PPV were not going to be going to that event anyway so at least in this way the track can still gain some revenue by getting their cut of the fee for the telecast.
My argument is that when race fans stay home to watch a race online it will hurt the track that said fan would have likely gone out and bought a ticket for if not for the PPV.
Proof of my stance came this Saturday when a fan on the Iowastockcars forum stated that he was not coming to West Liberty because he was hosting a Dream viewing party for he and his friends. So, let's assume that this viewing party had eight people at it. I don't know what the PPV price was but let's assume $25 and that Eldora gets a 20% cut of that fee. With these assumptions that means that these eight race fans generated a total of five dollars that actually went to a race track on Saturday. Now, if not for PPV, those same eight race fans might have gone out and bought a $10 ticket at their local track generating $80 in revenue for a race track not to mention money that they might have spent on concessions. Heck, if even one of those eight actually went to the races it would have doubled the amount of money that is going to a race track.
Does this help illustrate my argument as to how the proliferation of Pay Per View is hurting our sport?
By the way, West Liberty isn't racing weekly anymore in case you hadn't noticed. And after not having a post on the forum since the first week in December it looks like Iowastockcars is gone as well.
So that was three years ago when nearly all PPV events were purchased on an individual basis. Now, in 2020, a race fan can get a monthly subscription to DirtVision for $39 watch all of the World of Outlaw Sprint Car races live during that month. So how many of you that live within 50 miles of Burlington, Iowa, have this? How many times have you stayed home on a Saturday night to watch the Outlaw Sprint Cars live instead of going to 34 Raceway to watch a nice field of 305 Sprint Cars race where you would have paid a ten dollar ticket, bought a sandwich and had a beer or two?
A VIP Subscription to SpeedShift.tv is $40 month where on a typical weekend you could watch ten, twelve or maybe more events live. How many of you from around the Quad Cities have a subscription and have stayed home to get the most of your forty bucks rather than going to Davenport, Maquoketa or East Moline where one three-day swing, including tickets, concessions and gas would have cost you more than forty bucks to attend live?
My son Morgan, who is a huge Sprint Car and Midget fan told me today that his $150 annual subscription to Floracing is the best gift that he has ever given himself. Morgan used to go to the races at least twenty nights a year spending well over $500 to do so. In May of 2019 he relocated to Dallas where it is pretty easy to find a live Sprint Car race within an hour on any given weekend. He has no motivation to go spend $15 or $30 to see a live Sprint Car race around the Metroplex.
Do you now understand how PPV dirt track racing is having a negative impact on the sport?
I am proud to say that I have yet to spend money on a Pay Per View event. Not saying that I never will, but I am going to hold out for as long as I can until I succumb to the strong temptation. I get it, these are some great deals, but the last thing that I want to do is to make the sane decision and stay home to watch a race on the computer when I could be......should be......live at a track instead. Only to then have an announcer who is obviously playing to his online crowd rather to those of us who made the trip and bought the tickets to keep the grassroots of our sport alive as long as we can.
Speaking of making a trip, we are watching the weather with plans to head west to the IMCA Spring Nationals in Beatrice, Nebraska, next weekend and if Mother Nature steps in we will look to the Calendar at Positively Racing for alternatives.
Hope to see you out there on the Back Stretch!
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| Don Hoffman back when "Pay Per View" meant buying a ticket and watching from the stands - Barry Johnson photo |
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